PixelPix 3D
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| PixelPix 3D | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General | |
| Author | z-alzayer |
| Type | Other Apps |
| Version | 1.11 |
| License | Mixed |
| Last Updated | 2026/04/21 |
| Links | |
| Download | |
| Website | |
| Source | |
A Game Boy-style camera app for the Nintendo 3DS. Point it at something, pick a palette, and save retro-filtered photos to your SD card.
Important: This software is provided as-is. The author is not responsible for any lost, corrupted, or overwritten files. Always back up your images and or SD card before installing or updating.
Installation
What you need:
- A Nintendo 3DS (any model) with homebrew access
- An SD card
Option A - Homebrew Launcher (easiest):
- Download 3ds_camera.3dsx from the releases page.
- Copy it to the /3ds/ folder on your SD card.
- Launch it from the Homebrew Launcher.
Option B - Install as a full app (CIA):
- Download 3ds_camera.cia from the releases page.
- Copy it anywhere on your SD card.
- Open FBI, navigate to the file, and install it.
- The app will appear on your home menu like any normal game.
User guide
The live filtered view is always on the top screen. When you see something you like, just save it.
The bottom screen has tabs: "Camera", "Settings", "Gallery", and more. Tap either label to switch.
Camera tab
Four sliders let you adjust the look in real time:
- Brightness - Lighter or darker overall
- Contrast - Pushes darks and lights further apart
- Saturation - Left = greyscale, Right = vivid colour
- Gamma - Lifts or deepens the midtones
- Pixel Size - Adds a pixelation effect (snaps to 8 steps)
Below the sliders are 6 palette buttons, tap one to apply that colour palette. L/R cycle through them with buttons.
Palettes (Default):
- GB Greens (Classic 4-colour Game Boy green)
- GB Grays (Monochrome greyscale)
- GBC Greenish (Game Boy Color green tones)
- GBC Shell (Colourful, inspired by GBC shell colours)
- GBA-like UI (Game Boy Advance UI colours)
- DB Retro (Darkbox retro palette)
Filters:
- Lomo - colour-shift and vignette effects.
- Bending - warps and distorts the image geometry.
- Frames & Stickers - overlay pixel-art frames and stickers on your photos.
Wiggles:
- Take a burst of frames and save them as an animated GIF. Great for lo-fi motion shots.
Timer:
- Set a countdown before the shutter fires, useful for selfies or group shots.
Settings tab
Settings tab options:
- Save Scale - 1× saves at 400×240, 2× saves at 800×480 (default).
- Dither Mode - How colours blend at palette edges: Bayer, Cluster, Atkinson, or Floyd-Steinberg
- Invert - Flips all colours to their negative
From within the Settings tab, two extra tabs appear in the tab bar:
- Calibrate - Adjust the min, max, and default value for each filter slider
- Palette - Edit each palette's colours with RGB sliders; the top screen shows a live preview.
When you've set things up the way you like, tap "Save as Default" to write your settings to the SD card. They'll be there the next time you open the app.
Gallery tab
Tap Gallery in the tab bar to browse photos you've already saved.
Use the D-Pad to move between photos. The selected photo shows full-screen on the top screen.
Resetting to defaults
All your settings are stored in one plain-text file on the SD card:
sdmc:/3ds/pixelpix3d/settings.ini
To reset everything back to factory defaults, delete that file. The app will recreate it with defaults the next time you tap "Save as Default".
You can also open settings.ini on a computer and edit values manually, it's just key=value pairs.
Controls
A - Save photo
Y - Toggle rear/front camera
L/R - Previous/Next palette
B - Cycle pixel size
D-Pad Up/Down - Brightness (in Camera tab)
D-Pad Left/Right - Saturation (in Camera tab)
Select (hold) - Compare/Show raw unfiltered feed
Start - Quit
Screenshots
Changelog
v1.11
- New features
- Bending filters warp and distort effects added to main screen
- Fixes
- Raw preview (SELECT hold) no longer shows tearing or diagonal striping
- Gallery no longer shows vertical striping or banding on wiggle GIFs due to changes in interpolation methods
- Wiggle palette now persists correctly during time-cycling
- Updated README with more recent UI screenshots
v1.10
- Bug Fixes
- Wiggle – Ensure output is gif for filterless wiggle
- Wiggle – Ensure filtered wiggle outputs at approx 640 x 480
v1.9
- Features
- Shutter - Remap shutter button in settings.
- Wiggle - Allow GB filters and FX on wiggle GIFs.
- Calibrate - Add reset defaults button with logic and UI.
- Bug Fixes
- GB Cam – Fix main camera to use same logic as wiggle
- Wiggle – Expand X range to go beyond 20
- Settings – Fix append mode on settings INI
- Refactors
- Wiggle – Update wiggles to full resolution and use GIFs by default
- State Management – Move to simpler structs for clearer flow
- Top Screen – Move top screen rendering into render module
- Camera – Move camera toggle into camera file
- Editor – Move editor into separate file
- Main – Remove gallery code and other functionality into modular C files
- Cleanup – Clean up various headers
- Docs
- Add short disclaimer to backup section in README
v1.8
- Wigglegram improvements: Stereo frames are now cropped to the overlap region for a cleaner result. Animation includes a blend frame between left and right for smoother transitions.
- Alignment controls: D-pad adjusts X/Y alignment in preview. L/R bumpers cycle through delay presets (50/100/200/500ms). A confirms save, B cancels.
- Home Menu banner: App now displays a custom banner image and icon on the 3DS Home Menu when installed as a CIA.